Several companies using Wirecard’s payment processing solutions have found themselves having to suspend their services, but Revolut is not one of them.
Wirecard has gone bust. The news came after it was revealed that it had a €1.9bn ($2.1bn) hole in its balance sheet. The revelation that about a quarter of its finances were missing and, according to Wirecard themselves, never existed in the first place, resulted in a week of turmoil for the once celebrated FinTech unicorn.
First its CEO Markus Braun left his position on Friday June 19 before being arrested on Monday June 22. Prosecutors accused him of having inflated Wirecard’s finances and misleading investors and customers. He was later released on a €5m ($5.66m) bail. Then, on Thursday June 25, the payment company filed for insolvency.
On Friday June 26, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered Wirecard UK to freeze all of its assets and services. The regulator’s action caused problems for the companies relying on Wirecard’s services. Both digital banking companies Curve and ANNA Money have both been forced to suspend their activities for the time being.
However, while Revolut also used Wirecard’s services, it has told its users not to worry. In a tweet, the UK challenger bank said, “Just for a little peace of mind: We’ve switched all our top-ups away from Wirecard. Your Revolut card will work as usual! No worries. Your money is (as always) safeguarded with trusted global banks.”
In a statement to FinTech Global, Revolut added, “Revolut used Wirecard only as an acquirer in certain locations, enabling customer card ‘top-ups. We were already in the process of a phased migration from Wirecard to diversify our suppliers since late 2019. When we learned of Wirecard’s problems, we migrated the remaining customers to alternative providers worldwide to avoid any potential service disruption.”
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